Tag Archives: Safety Initiative

Michigan Technological University’s mission is to “prepare students to create the future” this requires students to be involved in the use of a wide variety of hazardous materials and processes that require special training and control measures to protect students, employees, and the environment from harm. To oversee this mission, Michigan Tech has created their University Safety Manual. This manual is to be referenced for the university’s policy on responsibilities, action plans, committees, and safety procedures including electrical, equipment, laboratory, and in general. At Michigan Tech, all students, faculty, and staff are all responsible for their individual safety performance and for the protection of the environment, it is the responsibility of all to maintain and prevent damage to the environment and follow the guidelines laid down by the university to achieve that.

The Safety Manual includes ten chapters on various procedures and protocols that may arise while working or studying at Michigan Tech. The first chapter begins with the Responsibilities of each university employee, faculty, or student on campus in regards to their own safety and the safety of others; the manual then goes on to specify Emergency Action and Fire Prevention; Safety Health and Environmental Policies; Safety Committees; General Safety; Storage and Handling of Hazardous Materials; Environmental Protection; Electrical Safety; Equipment Safety; and, finally, Laboratory Safety.

In an effort to continuously improve the safety processes and procedures, The Vice President for Administration (VPA) is launching a Safety Initiative within the Wadsworth Dining area. Wadsworth Dining has made excellent strides to create and maintain a safe working environment for the staff and student workers. VPA’s Business Operations Office worked with the Safety Office and Wadsworth Dining management to brainstorm a plan to improve Wadsworth Dining’s safety features. The new safety initiative will include the standardization of the safety signs that are hung in the working areas within the dining center. Using American National Standards Institute (ANSI) sign standards, Business Operations created signs to replace the old signs in Wadsworth Dining.

The old signs (shown below-left) were cluttered with too many words and warnings on a single sign. They didn’t draw the eye and failed to communicate the message in a efficient way.

New signs (shown below-right) have a clear “Warning”, “Caution”, or “Notice” label across the top. They also have a pictorial representation of what the sign is communicating and clear and concise wording to let people who what needs to be done. Business Operations separated each warning into it’s own poster to better display the various potential hazards in the area.

Through the use of these signs, VPA hopes to increase awareness of the potential hazards in a standardized and consistent manner. By maintaining a constant safety presence through these signs, training, and safety outreach, Wadsworth Dining will foster a growing safety culture and take strides in reducing accidents and injuries.